Pomp & Circumstance
by Tracy Space Cowgirl
Summary: Maria thinks about High School graduation, and what will happen afterwards. AU


Pomp And Circumstance   
By Tracy (biancaheart@yahoo.com) 

Rating: PG 

Category: Maria POV 

Summary: Maria thinks about High School graduation,   
and what will come afterwards. 

Spoilers: "Baby It's You" 

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell, and I don't own the   
song Pomp and Circumstance. I definetly don't own any   
tv stations, just a TV. 

Author's Note: My little own way of dealing with the   
WB's crapola, and the feelings caused by seeing my   
friend graduate at my old high school tonight. Just   
dealing, really. 

Dedicated to Hannah, and the DHS class of 2001…(even   
though the class of 99 was better)   
  


I stand up as the song begins to play. 

My days at West Roswell High are over. My high school   
days are gone. My days in Roswell itself will soon be   
over. 

I should be happy, like everybody else, bouncing up   
and down at the fact that school is done, always and   
forever. 

I've just reached another turning point in my life,   
and I'm not sure where to go. 

I know about change. It's been a constant in my life.   
My Dad left, that's a change. I found out that   
aliens really existed in Roswell. I've been hunted by   
the FBI. I've taken off for days, leaving my Mom   
behind, just calling her on a cell phone to keep in   
touch. I've been in love. I've had my heart broken.   
I've buried one of my best friends. And I've seen my   
best friends get on a spaceship and leave this Earth.   
I know about change. 

I'm all grown up now, but I still feel like a little   
girl. 

There were years that I missed, years that I didn't   
really get to live. I didn't get to be your normal   
teenage girl. I've had to face life and death, love   
and loss, at an accelerated speed. My whole Senior   
year has been spent recovering from the wounds that   
Junior and Sophomore years left behind. 

I'm walking following Gracie Cohen, who has decided to   
overdose on the perfume today, apparently just for my   
benefit. 

But yet, I should be happy. This is a major   
achievement, finishing High School. Now I can go on,   
discover what I want to do, and who I want to be. 

My blue graduation robe itches me on my arms. The   
polyester is cheap, and it still smells of dry   
cleaning. 

The principal speaks, and then introduces Liz as the   
Valedictorian. After Max left, she really didn't have   
any competition. 

Liz is talking about the stars, and how we should aim   
for the stars as we travel on. 

I stare up at the constellation we found so many years   
ago. The Radish constellation. And I wonder, if they   
can feel it on a planet far, far, away. If they know   
that they should be up here, awaiting their diplomas,   
just like me. That they should just be normal   
teenagers, not rulers of a distant land. 

Kyle, as Senior Class President, gets up and makes a   
speech. He talks about the Class of 2002, about what   
we've been through, what goals we have achieved. And   
he urges us not to forget each other. He mentions   
Alex, and I feel the pain creeping up in my chest.   
Alex should walk tonight too. He talks about friends   
that have recently moved away, and again, I see a wide   
eyed shy alien, a prissy Ice Princess with a heart of   
gold, and a smirky spaceboy who won my heart. 

And then the names are called. 

"Maria De Luca." 

I have done it. I accept the folder with shaking   
hands. 

And in a flash, it is all over. 

We throw our hats up into the air, and I throw mine so   
that I can touch the stars with it. 

Liz and Kyle run over and hug me, while the Parkers,   
Mom, and Jim rush towards us. 

Pictures are taken, freezing this moment in time. 

It's the last time we will be all together. 

Liz is following her dream and going to Harvard.   
She's excited about the change, and can't wait to   
experience life in Boston. I don't know how I'll get   
by without her. Email and phones will help, but it   
just won't be the same. 

Kyle is going off to school as well. He's got a full   
scholarship to the University of North Carolina,   
because of his football and Baseball excellence. It   
will be weird not to have good old Chia Head around   
anymore, especially since I've gotten used to him,   
well after our parents married, we kinda had to get   
used to each other, or face dying in some horrible   
swirlie accident. 

Me? 

I'm headed off to a small liberal arts college in   
Alabama. I'm going to study music, and hope that my   
talent can get me somewhere. Huntington College, here   
I come. 

Come August our lives will change. 

We will all go to the airport, sniffling, with bags   
and bags of crap, and kiss our parents goodbye. 

And we will fly away on a ship, each taking us to fill   
our destiny. 

I will be brave. 

I will carry on. I don't know how to do anything else   
but. 

It will be ok. In the end, it will all work out. I   
have confidence in myself, something that's pretty   
hard to find. At least for me- recently. 

I look up at the stars and smile. 

Yes, I miss them. I miss Max. I miss Isabel. And I   
really, really, really, really miss Michael. I even   
miss Tess. 

But I'm going to take a cue from them. 

I will leave this place in search of something more.   
My destiny. The reality made for me. And when I find   
it, I won't let it go. 

Yet I'll enjoy this summer, enjoy spending the last   
halcyon days I can with my best friends. 

And then I'll grow up. 

I laugh as Kyle picks both me and Liz up and twirls us   
around. 

And as the band strikes up Pomp and Circumstance   
again, I smile. 

This is not an end, but a beginning.   



End file.
